The Electric Vehicle Council is urging state governments to clarify whether they intend to
push forward with electric vehicle taxes or hold to their 2050 zero greenhouse gas
emissions targets.
New research from the University of Queensland shows the decision by the governments
of Victoria and South Australia to slug electric vehicles with new taxes will prevent these
states from reaching their goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Dr Jake Whitehead’s research on the impact of such taxes suggest that the move will
reduce electric vehicle uptake by 50 per cent. But 90 per cent of cars on the roads must
be electric by 2050 for zero emission targets to be viable.
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said state governments need to
pick a position.
“State governments need to decide, do they want to introduce a tax on electric cars or do
they want to commit to zero emissions by 2050? The research shows unequivocally they
cannot do both,” Mr Jafari said.
“You don’t need advanced economics to understand that applying a big new tax on
something discourages its consumption. These proposed state taxes will badly stunt
Australia’s electric vehicle uptake before it even had a chance to get started.
“These taxes are like replacing declining tobacco excise with a new tax on nicotine
patches. They are madness. And that’s why a few Australian states are so far the only
jurisdictions in the world silly enough to flag this policy approach at this point in global
history.
“What this research makes clear is that we cannot allow State Treasurers to continue
deceiving the public. You’re either for an electric vehicle tax or you’re for a 2050 zero
target. You cannot be for both.”
